SOURCE: Booz Allen Hamilton
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“Our men and women [in uniform] need the equipment that this community provides to ensure they can go forward and perform their missions and come home safely to their families.”
- General Dennis Via (ret.), Booz Allen Executive Vice President and 2021 inductee into the C5ISR Hall of Fame
C5ISR stands for combat, control, computers, communications, and cyber in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR works at the center of it all: developing, integrating, and delivering these technologies to today’s networked warfighters.
Each year, the C5ISR Hall of Fame celebrates the top individuals who have enabled this critical area of Army readiness. This year, on both Flag Day and the 246th birthday of the U.S. Army, Dennis Via—a retired Army general and Booz Allen Executive Vice President—was among five Hall of Fame inductees.
A pivotal leader in Army logistics and readiness
Via (#7), one of only nine U.S. Army African American four-star generals, served for several years as commanding general and deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), whose mission includes researching and developing weapons systems, as well as global logistics and supply chain management, contracting, munitions production, security cooperation, and industrial base manufacturing and depot maintenance operations.
“I would like to thank Booz Allen for providing me with the opportunity to continue to give back to our nation and to our armed forces, and for continuing to allow us to do the things we love in support of our Army,” Via said in his acceptance remarks.
Via also served as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command (CECOM) and as Senior Commander of Fort Monmouth, NJ. In this role, he was responsible for planning the Base Realignment and Closure of Fort Monmouth and relocation of CECOM to Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.
“During your final assignment, you led the largest global logistics command in the Army and Department of Defense and, I’d like to add, in the United States of America,” Major General Mitchell L. Kilgo said as he introduced Via at the ceremony.
A commitment to a new mission
Via joined Booz Allen in 2017 following retirement from the U.S. Army, and currently is the firm’s Executive Vice President for Corporate Engagement in the Office of the CEO. As a Fellow for Defense Futures and senior executive leader in Booz Allen’s Global Defense Group, Via focuses his efforts on helping to modernize the defense industrial base and “bring our defense clients into the future.” In addition to a senior leader for Security Cooperation, he contributes to growth across technology innovation, warfighter advancements, readiness and training, and health facility transformation.
Over the last year, Via has also played a large role in the development of Booz Allen’s Race and Social Equity Agenda, serving as a co-lead of the firm’s DEI Council and convening a series of fireside chats with employees to discuss “the fundamental issues of inequality that have posed barriers to fully and meaningfully participating.”
“On behalf of Booz Allen and the countless individuals impacted by Dennis’ leadership throughout a storied career, I say congratulations—this is very well deserved,” said Booz Allen President and CEO Horacio Rozanski. “Dennis brings tremendous experience and perspective to our defense clients—helping them not only meet their mission, but also, and most importantly, ensure a safe return home. He has committed himself to his country, to addressing inequality in all forms, and to creating a better, purpose-driven future for us all—thank you.”
Continuing to advance, innovate, and strengthen the defense community
Via is in good company in the C5ISR Hall of Fame. Other 2021 inductees include:
- Edward Bair, who, as the longest-tenured senior leader in Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, and Sensors, oversaw the fielding of over 200,000 systems
- Lieutenant General (Retired) William H. Campbell, who oversaw the deployment of more than 250,000 C5ISR systems and devices to U.S. warfighters
- Dr. John H. Pollard, who was personally responsible for some of the greatest advancements in infrared detector technologies that ensure the U.S. Army’s all-weather, 24-hour fighting capability
- Bryon J. Young, who managed the successful consolidation of two ACC contracting centers into a single contracting entity during the Army’s Base Realignment and Closure, significantly impacting readiness and modernization
Via continues to work for the advancement and betterment of the defense community. In May, he co-authored an article for Defense News, along with Booz Allen Executive Vice Presidents Karen Dahut and Aimee George Leary, about resetting and reframing the future of work in a post-COVID-19 world.
“The national headlines, industry events, and casual conversations with colleagues reinforce the notion that we will return to the workplace as we left it in 2020,” the article states. “In the defense industry, we should not accept this as inevitable. The work paradigm has shifted, and we have an important opportunity to go forward, not backward.”
Learn more about Booz Allen’s support of defense clients, and its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
KEYWORDS: NYSE:BAH, Booz Allen Hamilton, Defense, Innovation
